


Sub-par Movies and Sincere Conversations

by sashawiremarryme



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Juno Steel Fluff Week 2018, Movie Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 18:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15176861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sashawiremarryme/pseuds/sashawiremarryme
Summary: Rita never gave Mista Steel a choice, he was coming over and sitting through a movie marathon, whether he liked it or not.He's been so miserable lately, surely this will cheer him up?





	Sub-par Movies and Sincere Conversations

**Author's Note:**

> I love trying to write from Rita's perspective so much. She's such a good character, what did we do to deserve her?

Rita never gave Mista Steel a choice, he was coming over and sitting through a movie marathon, whether he liked it or not. But for his sake, she hoped he liked it. Ever since he disappeared and came back missing an eye he had spent all of his time moping around the office. Every day he either shut himself in his office or he yelled at Rita to do more work. The second one wasn’t unusual behaviour for him, but usually she actually had work to do. But he wasn’t taking cases these days. Every time one someone came to him asking for help he would find an excuse to turn them away.

“They’re crazy!”

“It’s too easy!”

“It’s a waste of my time!”

“It’s a dead end!”

This had been going on for weeks. The money wasn’t a problem for Rita, she was always able to make some with her computer skills, but she was worried about him. He wasn’t just her boss, he was her friend, and she was pretty sure she was his best friend.

“Rita,” He yelled from where he was sitting on her couch, flicking through her movie collection, trying to find one he liked. “I’ve never even heard of any of these movies before. Maybe I should just go.” He stood up. Rita ran across her apartment from her kitchen where she had been making popcorn towards him and tackled him to the floor. “Rita, what the hell?!”

“You’re not allowed to leave, Mista Steel!” She pleaded. “I’m doing this is to cheer you up, you can’t leave your own movie night!” She stood up and offered him her hand. “I just want to help you.”

“I don’t need help, Rita.” He ignored her hand and stood up on his own.

“Now, we both know that’s not true.” Juno started to protest but she just talked over him. “I get that you don’t wanna talk about it—I definitely think you should and I want you to know that I am here for you when you finally realise that you can’t just bottle everything up all the time or you’ll just explode which isn’t good for you—but I can’t make you talk about something if you don’t wanna.

“I’m just trying to help make you happy.” She pointed at the screen. “So stop being so grumpy for a few hours and pick a movie.” There was a long pause and Rita was sure she’d said too much. Mista Steel was probably going to yell at her or maybe he’d just leave and keep being miserable around the office, and he’d make her life miserable.

“Rita,” she glared at him, “I really haven’t heard of any of these movies before.” He forced a smile. She knew he didn’t mean it but she also knew he was doing it for her and she appreciated the gesture.

“Does that mean I get to pick?” He nodded. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She ran over to the remote. “How about we watch the one about the people on this space station but the company they work for it secretly really evil and there are these aliens and this doctor who infects all the people on his previous missions with this virus that meant to save the…” she trailed off, “Actually that one’s a bit sad at the end. Hmm… Oh! I know! That about this hospital in a space station and there’s this guy who seems kinda evil but he’s actually super sweet and there’s this prince—”

“Rita!” Juno interrupted, “I don’t care, please just pick one.”

“Don’t worry Mista Steel, I know the perfect one.” She picked a movie about a P.I. that was so inaccurate even Franny could pick out things that weren’t right. Mista Steel didn’t make it four minutes before he was yelling at the screen.

“That’s not how you investigate!” He yelled, “Why aren’t you wearing gloves, you’ll contaminate the crime scene!” The entire time the detective was questioning suspects, Juno was laughing at how bad he was. About halfway through the movie, he turned to Rita. “Why are you making me watch this?” He asked her.

“Because,” she said between mouthfuls of popcorn. “You’re smiling for the first time in weeks and it’s a big improvement over all the sulking.”

“I wasn’t sulking.”

“Yeah, you were boss.” She threw some more popcorn into her mouth. “And that’s okay, but you can’t be miserable all the time. Eventually, you have to talk about it with someone, and I get it if you’re not ready yet but I just want you to know that I’m here for you and ready to listen if you need me.” She smiled and held out her hand again.

“Yeah, Rita,” He reached out and grabbed it. “I’ll keep that in mind.”


End file.
